Coming in to the Lord’s Test match, there were two players under the scanner, not from the selectors or their captain but from the impatient Indian fans who were asking for a change, they were Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara.
Coming in to the Lord’s Test match, there were two players under the scanner, not from the selectors or their captain but from the impatient Indian fans who were asking for a change, they were Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara. Both of them had not scored much after the Australian series and the fans were getting impatient.
And both failed in the first innings with Pujara scoring 9 and Rahane just 1. Twitter was buzzing with inpatient fans asking them to be axed and replaced with Suryakumar Yadav and Mayank Agarwal for the third test.
And when Rahane Walked in to bat at number 5, India were struggling at 55/3 with their captain Virat Kohli back in the hut and so were both their inform openers in Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul.
Since India has conceded a lead of 27 runs, India were actually just 26 runs ahead when Rahane walked in. Both Rahane and Pujara batted out of their skins n were very watchful as all the England bowlers were right on the money and were not giving an inch or loose deliver. Another wicket at that time and India would be in deep waters. Rahane was more aggressive and looked very assured and Pujara was like a wall blocking every ball. They batted for 50 overs but put on a crucial 100 runs partnership which took India’s lead beyond 120 when Pujara fell to a brute of a delivery for 45 but he had batted for 206 balls and then Rahane fell soon after making crucial 61 runs but by then India were 150 runs ahead.
Whether this two knocks will save India only time will tell but at least it has given Indian bowlers enough cushion to bowl on a wearing 5th day pitch. Some fans might argue that Rahane and Pujara could have carried on but trust me batting was not easy with some ball keeping low or some kicking which Pujara got. Even Ravindra Jadeja was bamboozled with a bowl which kept low. The importance of both the knocks cannot be underestimated until the last day begins today as India has a long tail from number 8 to 11. India are currently 152 ahead with four wickets to go but albeit he needs support of his bowlers to bat with him. Even a score of 200 will be good enough for India’s bowlers on the last day if Pant can bat with the tail as England’s batting bearing Joe Root seems be low on confidence.
Ajinkya Rahane last two important knocks had resulted in India winning, first one was the hundred in Melbourne in the second test which came after Indian were blown away for 36 at Adelaide and his next knock of 50 was against England in Chennai on a spinning track and India were 1/0 down and went on to win that test match and square the series. The only issue with Rahane is that he has not been consistent but as the great Sunil Gavaskar said Rahane scores when it matters the most and has been India’s unsung hero and not the glamour boy who does not make more noise when he performs he gets unnoticed.
And India is alive in the Lords test match because of the resilience of the Silent man whose bat does the talking.